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Unveiled: Yahoo’s New Strategy

February 12 2012 Tweet Email This

With Yahoo! Inc.’s (NASDAQ:YHOO) new sheriff in town, change is coming. And first up for the Internet company is a move away from ads to revenue from fees and commissions.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Yahoo’s new CEO Scott Thompson hasn’t offered any specifics with his desired changes but has been meeting with employees through small lunches and large meetings, telling them he will employ time and resources to Web services to gain future revenue, rather than manage the company’s profit margins with its current services.

But it’s not to say Thompson has completely neglected the online-ad business. He has also spoken with executives of Yahoo’s advertising-agency partners; recently he made a faux pas with one of them, the Interpublic Group of Cos.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Thompson had been asked about his opinion about agencies, and he responded that he prefers to be “as close to the customer as possible,” and noted that “I don’t like intermediaries that add no value.”

He tried to salvage the comment saying good intermediaries “can change the equation,” he put off some attendees. Yahoo and ad agencies have butt heads and other Internet companies that have tried to work with marketers but have taken them out of the process. Yahoo didn’t comment on the alleged conversation.

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